The present invention relates to articulated beds adjustable by electric motors or their equivalent to support the person in the bed in different positions as desired, and more specifically to beds that can be operated by a handheld unit coupled to the bed by a wire or wireless link.
Although adjustable beds have long been found useful in hospital and institutional settings, in recent years such beds have been made convenient for more universal use by adding lifting and vibrator massage motors controllable by a handheld controller. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,235,258 entitled REMOTELY CONTROLLED ARTICULATED BED describes an articulated bed manipulated by head and foot motors and vibrated by head and foot vibrator motors which are controlled by a wireless remote unit.
However, there is a danger that as more controllable features and options are added to such "automatic" beds they actually may become more difficult and frustrating to use. For example, if head and foot portions of the bed can be put in countless different positions and the head and foot vibrators can be set for a variety of speeds and massage patterns, the user may find it difficult to restore the bed to a favored setting once it has been readjusted for some reason. Moreover, if previously the bed has been left in a chair-like curved position, a tired or distraught person wanting to just lie on the bed in a more conventional position may not be in the mood to "play" with the controls.
Thus, it would be highly desirable if there were some way the user could easily make the bed automatically return to a favored "bed setting," without adding greatly to the cost of the bed or complexity in operating it. However, any mechanism which causes such a bed to automatically adjust its shape significantly might present a danger to a handicapped, sick or feeble person who inadvertently triggers the mechanism and cannot immediately bring it to a halt. Therefore, such a feature cannot be added without first devising some foolproof way for even a surprised or frightened person to easily halt any such automatic motion.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide an articulated bed and a method and device for operating it by which the user can customize several favorite settings of the bed's lifting and massaging motors and of even associated equipment, such as a bed lamp or television. A further object is to provide a safety mechanism by which even a surprised or frightened person can halt such an automatic adjustment motion of the bed.